Yahoo News Leicester players prepare to fly to Bangkok for Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha's funeral
The funeral of the Thai owner of Leicester City Football Club is to take place at a Buddhist temple in Bangkok on Saturday.
Members of Thailand's elite are expected to pay tribute to Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, alongside players at the football club he bought in 2010 who will board a plane shortly after coming off the pitch at today's game against Cardiff.
Mr Vichai, 60, and four other people died in a horrific helicopter accident moments after departing the club's pitch last Saturday night, bringing an abrupt end to the fairytale life of the duty-free mogul who was Thailand's fifth-richest man.
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Dozens of mourners visited Wat Thep Sirin Temple in the Thai capital on Saturday ahead of the funeral, which commenced in the evening marking the beginning of seven days of mourning rituals.
Mr Vichai's body was flown back to Thailand on Friday with a private service held in the evening at Wat Thepsirin temple in the Thai capital. Prominent individuals close to the family of the well-connected billionaire attended the the gathering.
It is believed the ceremony will have regal touches, including the use of a huge eight-sided golden funerary urn gifted by the monarchy to hold Mr Vichai's ashes.
Court musicians will play drums and flutes during the highly intimate traditional bathing ceremony which began at 5.30pm local time and sees mourners pouring water on the hand of the deceased. The king attended the ceremony.
Buddhist monks will recite prayers from religious texts and afterwards the body will be kept for 100 days before a cremation but a date has not been set.
Members of the Leicester team including coach Claude Puel are due to board a plane to Thailand to pay their respects shortly after their 3pm away fixture against Cardiff City.
The squad and staff will make the 12,000-mile round trip and are expected to be in Thailand for 36 hours to visit the temple where Mr Vichai's body lays in rest.
"We all spoke about ... wanting to play, it's what Vichai would've wanted and that's what we are going to do," striker Jamie Vardy told Sky Sports, adding that they would "honour his name" with their performance.
Leicester City players will wear black armbands during the match, which will commence with a minute's silence.
Fans were treated to a free breakfast at the King Power Stadium in Leicester before making the journey to Cardiff for the match.
Vincent Tan, Chairman of Cardiff City and who counted himself as a friend of Mr Vichai paid his respects to an: "honest and caring man with virtue and integrity".
In a separate interview given to Sky Sports on Friday, Vardy added: "It'll be massively important. That's how we are.
"We're a close knit group like one big family and one of the main reasons for that is Vichai. So for us to be there is massively important."
Mr Vardy is expected to be joined by goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel, captain Wes Morgan, Mr Puel and senior staff in travelling to Thailand for the funeral.
Mr Puel said: "I want to give the opportunity for players and staff to go to the funeral. We will see the logistics.
"Of course, the players want to go and support his family — his wife, son Top, all the family.
"They put us in their family and that was a special thing about him. The players travelled to Dubai and other places to have good moments with Vichai. For him the players were his children, his family.
"Sometimes he was not happy with their game but he would forgive them"
Vichai leaves behind a wife and four children, two sons and two daughters.
All five are on the executive board of King Power, which faces an uncertain future.
In the first public reaction from the family, Vichai's youngest son Aiyawatt - better known by his nickname "Top" - said in an Instagram post this week that his father had "left me with a legacy to continue and I will do everything I can to carry on his big vision and dreams."
Mr Vichai's life story reads like a classic rags to riches tale of success. He went from having a single store in Bangkok to owning the duty-free King Power empire, whose shops are ubiquitous in Thailand's tourist-heavy airports.
Using the profits from his monopoly Mr Vichai bought Leicester City in 2010 and helped turn it from an unremarkable English club to the surprise winner of the Premier League title in 2016. Mr Vardy was instrumental in this turnaround becoming the third top scorer in the Premier League that year.
Back in Thailand, people are stunned by the tragic demise of a man known mainly for one business success after another but who owed much of his ascent to canny navigation of Thailand's unpredictable politics and elite society.
That included the monarchy, links reflected in the name of his company and the former king's act of royally bestowing on Vichai a surname that translates to "auspicious and prosperous light".
The four other crash victims were identified by British police as Nursara Suknamai - an actress and a runner-up in Miss Thailand Universe in 2005 - and Kaveporn Punpare, both members of Vichai's staff, pilot Eric Swaffer and passenger Izabela Roza Lechowicz.
